Board 8 > [VGMC] d12: Divinity:OS 2 Theme/LastPandemic, Fight Btw Wind + Sky/Glitch Nerds

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to today's topic for Video Game Music Contest 12, a tournament of the best tracks from games, as decided upon by you, the voters.

Links:
Bracket - http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=469506
Contest info - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lzzbpDP2whgvOTN2XHETfWg79IyPs01jdwIQu_L2C7k/
Discussion and results thread - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/76419785
Main bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RFBXCwz0vAKZg8V0rnrKHsE
Side bracket playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9O9mntH1RFI-vkdyFa8-bXzbFLMLl1X

Rules:

- Listen to both of the songs. Links have conveniently been provided for both songs. Even if Song A is your favorite of all-time and Song B is from a series you hate... Listen. To. Both. (If I have suspicions your vote is not based on a fair and impartial preference, it will be disqualified.)
- Obvious contest rules apply (no alts, one vote per person, no rallying, etc.).
- Please make your voting options clear, rather than burying them in text.
- Each set of matches lasts 24 hours, even if the new one isnt up by then.
- Always vote on the versions of the song provided, not versions from different sources.
- If you know ahead of time that you're not going to be around and you want to vote in advance, post your choices in the discussion/bracket topic.
- Please do NOT post tallies/score updates in the middle of the match, as this has a tendency to directly influence matches.
- You don't have to vote in all the matches, but it'd be cool if you did!

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Match #1:

Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Main Theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1APFIJN-ubU" data-time="

Ciel nosurge - LastPandemic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeBrwUmWWLA" data-time="

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Match #2:

Tales of Zestiria - Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acO7-1Kkhcg" data-time="

Beatmania IIDX Copula - Glitch Nerds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bGHs5y1whs" data-time="

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Side bracket:

Pokemon Black/White - Nacrene City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnZRWrPCcCg" data-time="

Studiopolis Zone Act 1 - Sonic Mania

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIWyZmFSep0" data-time="

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Easy vote form:
Main Theme / LastPandemic
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky / Glitch Nerds
Nacrene City / Sonic Mania
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LastPandemic
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Studiopolis Zone 1

Easy and thoroughly whatever first match.Yet again, the second match is super good. I dunno how well Gitch Nerds would fare against most songs in the bracket, but this is certainly one of the worst placements it could've had. Third match is unfortunate. Tough decision, had the Nacrene City link had the accordions I would've picked it for sure.

2 > Side >> 1

also get hype for next vgmc, where everything is the same but with one new rule: only songs I nominate are eligable.

If I ran a VGMC, I'd probably change the head to head matchups to groups of 4, to lessen those situations of people saying "Oh man, I like both of the songs in this match more than both of the songs in this other match". The two best ranked songs on average in the group of 4 would advance. Might be back to head to head in later rounds though. Such a format also opens the possibility of odd numbers of songs, instead of just powers of 2. If the first round was a group of 5 instead of 4, for example.
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Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Main Theme
Beatmania IIDX Copula - Glitch Nerds
Studiopolis Zone Act 1 - Sonic Mania
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LastPandemic
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Nacrene City
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LastPandemic - Divinity starts out kinda meh, and gets alright later on. LP is just fun the whole way through. Feels like a weird choice, but eh.

Glitch Nerds - Blinking Sky isn't really a top Zestiria song IMO. Most of Go Shiina's Zestiria songs are better than it I think. I prefer the full version of Glitch Nerds but the short version is the first I heard and I loved it back then too. Good times.

Studiopolis - I always have this idea in my head that all Pokemon music sucks, so whenever I hear a song I like from it it's a big surprise. Nacrene City still sucks though. Not fond of 2D Sonic songs either, and Studiopolis has somehow managed to recapture that feeling. Bleh.
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Main Theme
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Sonic Mania

Sonic Mania Blows everything else out of the water today
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Ciel nosurge - LastPandemic
Pokemon Black/White - Nacrene City
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Ciel nosurge - LastPandemic
Tales of Zestiria - Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Sonic Mania - Studiopolis Zone Act 1
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Main Theme
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Studiopolis
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Match 1: Main Theme

It's not even close.

Match 2: Glitch Nerds

Is it just me, or are there a ton of Rhythm Game songs in this? Feels like a ton. But Imma still vote for it over the other one.

Side Bracket: Nacrene City

Popcorn_Fairy posted...

Is it just me, or are there a ton of Rhythm Game songs in this? Feels like a ton.

It makes sense for music games to have better songs than average games I would say...
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Main Theme ~ so cinematic! I love it!
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky ~ this one's really pretty, too!
Studiopolis Zone Act 1 ~ eh, no real preference between these two. I like them both.

Mac Arrowny posted...

Popcorn_Fairy posted...

Is it just me, or are there a ton of Rhythm Game songs in this? Feels like a ton.

It makes sense for music games to have better songs than average games I would say...

not really and also that isn't true
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Really? Every song in a rhythm game is generally meant to stand out in some way. Lots of regular game songs are just filler that no one really cares about.
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Mac Arrowny posted...

Really? Every song in a rhythm game is generally meant to stand out in some way. Lots of regular game songs are just filler that no one really cares about.

Yeah but you're making the assumption that because a game is a rhythm game it'll automatically have better talent behind it (when they tend to have lower budgets) or that other genres don't place much importance on music. A rhythm game won't really have any bland atmospheric music that other games might, but there's still plenty of opportunities for gold.

It'd be more fair to say that you can expect better music per track or budget, although that still has flaws.
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LastPandemic - both of these are the same kind of whatever, for different reasons. akiko wins because she has the voices sorry lol

Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky - whyyy why whWHY GLITCH NERDS almost every other Camellia song in a BEMANI (that doesn't feature Nanahira on vocals, although PAPAYAPA is good) would get an easy vote out of me against most things in this contest. Especially AZISAI!!!! and NITROUS CANNON but that came out after nominations had closed lol sooooo. 2019 Year of Azisai? lets do it. anyway i thought this song was boring on ravemania and the negative further compounded with a bad game cut and a painfully boring SPA chart. This isn't entirely an anti-vote though; while its not my favorite shrine theme in Zestiria... actually, its my least favorite lol, Wind vs Blinking Sky is still pretty good. Shiina's crazy chattering vocal thing is always fun to listen to (you'll hear me gush about that more in the coming future though huehue) and it's just overall a peaceful yet powerful listen.

Studiopolis Zone Act 1 - dude same problem above here, if Nacrene were literally any other black/white town i would be voting it right now

LastPandemic
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Studiopolis Zone Act 1
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banshiryuu posted...

while its not my favorite shrine theme in Zestiria

Earth Shrine theme the best.
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LastPandemic
Fight between the wind and blinky sky
Studiopolis 1
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LastPandemic
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Studiopolis Zone Act 1

LP is a good song that seems like something I would've hated a few years back, but I quite like it now. These Divinity tracks I've been hearing (like from that one OST ranking topic) have also been really good.

I've always kinda liked Go Shiina songs, but they've grown on me a lot! Glitch Nerds is another average rhythm game song.

In general I prefer Pokmon music to Sonic music, but Studiopolis Zone Act 1 has more interesting things going on than its competition.
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LastPandemic
Glitch Nerds
Nacrene City
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LastPandemic
Glitch Nerds
Studiopolis Zone Act 1

Second match was pretty good. Side was pretty meh.
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Main Theme
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Studiopolis Zone Act 1

I hate just about everything about LastPandemic. For some mysterious reason I'm also not the biggest fan of Main Theme, but it's the easy choice here regardless.

I have the same issue with a lot of Tales of Zestiria songs, which is they manage to sound "epic" in way that to me is totally bland and unremarkable (which is actually similar to the complaint I would level against Main Theme in the first match). This one looked to be going the same way, but to my surprise it got noticeably better at around the 1:30 mark. This song actually does a lot cool things and has some impactful rhythmic bits to it. Glitch Nerds is not my thing at all. The bass is too overpowering; talking vocals in songs is something I always hate; and this "wub" sound effect is just not something that works for me. Also uh who thought it was a good idea to include a sound effect at 1:00 that actually made me think my Youtube player was crashing?

This Sonic is surprisingly catchy and good. Don't like the Pokemon much but I've already done enough complaining this post.

Studiopolis Act 1 > Fight Between the Wind and Blinking Sky > Main Theme > Nacrene City > LastPandemic > Glitch Nerds

Very weak day overall, though the top 2 songs are good at least.
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Pandemic
Sky
City
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Main Theme
Glitch Nerds
Studiopolis Zone Act 1

Thanks for canceling me out bro
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LastPandemic
Glitch Nerds
Nacrene City

Main Theme
Glitch Nerds
Studiopolis Zone Act 1

Main Theme
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Studiopolis Zone Act 1

Interesting day. I didn't really feel LastPandemic, and although Main Theme also wasn't particularly notable, I found it a little nicer overall. Both seemed weak to me, though close. The second match was also close but both were much stronger. Glitch Nerds was pretty cool and I had to relisten before deciding which I liked better. The side match was much easier, as Nacrene City was not that fun and Studiopolis was a lot of fun.
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LastPandemic
Glitch Nerds
Nacrene City
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LastPandemic
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Nacrene City
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LastPandemic
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Studiopolis Zone Act 1
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Ciel nosurge - LastPandemic
Tales of Zestiria - Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky

Sonic Mania - Studiopolis Zone Act 1
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Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Main Theme
Tales of Zestiria - Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Sonic Mania - Studiopolis Zone Act 1
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LastPandemic
Glitch Nerds
Studiopolis Zone Act 1
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Ed votes:
LastPandemic
Glitch Nerds
Studiopolis Zone Act 1

I vote:
the exact opposite.

Oh wait, no, I want to vote for Studiopolis. Okay, fine...

Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Main Theme
Tales of Zestiria - Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Sonic Mania - Studiopolis Zone Act 1

(Thanks, barrel!)
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LastPandemic
Glitch Nerds
Studiopolis Zone Act 1

Not a bad day at all, but not particularly outstanding either.

-First match: Pretty meh match; I tend to dislike orchestrated pieces with THIS kind of vibe to it, 'cause they're so zzzz... Meanwhile, you can clearly see and hear that Ciel nosurge is an Ar Tonelico spinoff (at least it seems like it) just from the letters in the artwork alone, or for the vocals alone. It sounds kind of weird at first, but it gets a little better.

-Second match: I thought I was going to pick the Zestiria song at first, since THIS is a good orchestrated piece, even if it does some weird things and twists at random times from out of nowhere. But the really astonishing thing about this match is that I voted dubstep (of all things) over the other song. Good dubstep or weak match? [insert "Why not both?" comment here.]

-Third match: I don't like how the Pokemon song begins, although it gets better and settles down into a more calmed and harmonic piece (characteristic of Pokemon since the 2nd Gen). I also tend to prefer upbeat songs to calmed ones in general, so that's why my vote goes to Sonic.

Glitch Nerds > FBthWathBS > Studiopolis Zone Act 1 > LastPandemic > Nacrene City > Main Theme
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LastPandemic
Glitch Nerds
Studiopolis Zone Act 1

Very blah second match, but thankfully Studiopolis and LastPandemic rescue the day pretty thoroughly.
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almost forgot to vote "whoops"

LastPandemic
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
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Ciel nosurge - LastPandemic
Tales of Zestiria - Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Sonic Mania - Studiopolis Zone Act 1
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Main Theme
Glitch Nerds
Nacrene City
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Main Theme
Fight Between the Wind and the Blinking Sky
Studiopolis Zone Act 1
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